[Nine Equivalents of Nursing Manpower Use Score (NEMS): a study of its historical process].

This study aims to describe, through an integrative review of literature, the historical trajectory of therapeutic intervention scores with emphasis on Nine Equivalents of Nursing Manpower Use Score in Intensive Care Units. The descriptors "Intensive care units" and "scales" were looked up in publications issued between 2000 and 2009. The terms selected were: "Nine Equivalents of Nursing Manpower Use Score" or "NEMS", "Unidade de Terapia Intensiva", "Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-76", "Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-28 or "TISS-28". As to the publications, "Medical Literature Analysis and Retrieval System Online" (MEDLINE) and "Literatura Latino-Americana e do Caribe em Ciências da Saúde" (LILACS) were selected Among the 295 papers reviewed, 18 were chosen, of which 55,5% were in English. The studies deal with NEMS (33,3%), Therapeutic Intervention Scoring System-76 (11,1%), TISS-28 (33,3%), among others. Research emphasized that NEMS has been a useful, operational and succinct tool.